This invention relates to a header for a harvesting machine of the type which can be moved in a working direction across a field including a standing crop to be harvested. Such devices can in some cases be used to directly combine the crop so that it is cut and passed into a combine body in which the grain is separated from the straw and chaff. In other arrangements the header can be used on a swather or windrower in which the crop is first cut and laid out by the machine into a swath or windrow for subsequent pickup by a combine.
Headers for combines have in recent years almost exclusively used, as a feed mechanism for transporting the cut crop inwardly to an opening in the combine feeder housing, an auger screw arrangement which is arranged rearwardly of the conventional sickle knife along a front edge of the header. These auger screw arrangements have become universal due to the simplicity of manufacture and due to the effective feeding of the high rates of material harvested by modern machines. It will be appreciated that the rate of movement of the machine across the ground and therefore the rate of cutting of crop has significantly increased over recent years and the auger screw has been found to accommodate such high rates of feeding. In addition the auger screw properly feeds the material into the feeder housing of the combine without causing undue shelling or loss of grain.
There is a requirement in modern machines to yet further increase the working width of the machine so that one pass of a large machine with a wide cutting blade cuts a wider swath of crop and thus reduces the number of passes. This has a number of advantages including reduced fuel usage, less damage to the ground by passes of heavy machinery and reduced working hours to complete the harvesting.
In practice, therefore, the maximum width of a header of this type is of the order of 30 feet and attempts to go beyond this width have met with very little success.
It is one object of the present invention, therefore, to provide an improved header device for a harvesting machine which provides an improved feed mechanism for transporting the cut crop along the header to the discharge opening to the combine.
According to a first aspect of the invention, therefore, there is provided a header for a crop harvesting machine comprising a frame, means for mounting the frame on the machine for transportation in a working direction across a field including a standing crop to be harvested, a knife arrangement extending transversely across a front edge of the frame for cutting the standing crop, means defining an opening rearwardly of the frame through which the cut crop is guided to pass, the frame extending outwardly therefrom to respective sides thereof, a first and a second draper assembly each including a pair of draper guide rollers arranged with the respective axes of rotation extending generally parallel to the working direction, one of said rollers being spaced from the opening to a respective side thereof and the other of said rollers being arranged adjacent said opening to define end of the draper assembly, and a draper canvas arranged rearwardly of said knife arrangement so as to receive the cut crop therefrom and constrained by the rollers to move transversely of the frame towards said end to carry said cut crop toward said opening, a third draper assembly including a pair of draper guide rollers arranged with respective axes extending transversely to said working direction and a draper canvas arranged rearwardly of said knife arrangement and at said ends of the first and second draper assemblies so as to carry said cut crop rearwardly of the frame from said ends to said opening to pass therethrough, a confining and feeding member, and means mounting said confining and feeding member in spaced position above a rear end of said third draper assembly so as to cooperate with said third draper assembly to confine said cut crop and to direct said cut crop to pass through said opening.
Preferably the confining and feeding member comprises a rotatable member which has a central section including a plurality of flexible paddle members which extend outwardly from the roller and lie in angularly spaced axial planes so that the paddles act to feed the material through the opening into the feeder housing. On either side of the central section defined by the paddle members, there can be provided a short auger section of a length significantly less than the length of the portion of the frame extending outwardly to one side from the opening so that substantially the whole of the transportation of the crop along the frame from outer portions thereof toward the opening is carried out by the draper canvas with the third draper canvas and the roller member acting to confine the member into the feeder housing.
Preferably the forward roller of the third draper is positioned with its outside ends beneath the innermost rollers of the first and second drapers. To accommodate this and to maintain the lowest possible angle of the first and second drapers' the forward roller of the third draper is positioned rearwardly of the knife and spaced therefrom The angle of the third draper to the horizontal is less than side to side angle of the first and second drapers so that a gap of increasing width is formed between the end of the first and second drapers and the upper surface of the third draper.
According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a header for a crop harvesting machine comprising a frame, means for mounting the frame on the machine for transportation in a working direction across a field including a standing crop to be harvested, a knife arrangement extending transversely across a front edge of the frame for cutting the standing crop, means defining an opening rearwardly of the frame through which the cut crop is guided to pass, the frame extending outwardly therefrom to respective sides thereof, a first and a second draper assembly each including a pair of draper guide rollers arranged with the respective axes of rotation extending generally parallel to the working direction, one of said rollers being spaced from the opening to a respective side thereof and the other of said rollers being arranged adjacent said opening to define end of the draper assembly, and a draper canvas arranged rearwardly of said knife arrangement so as to receive the cut crop therefrom and constrained by the rollers to move transversely of the frame towards said end to carry said cut crop toward said opening, a third draper assembly including a pair of draper guide rollers arranged with respective axes extending transversely to said working direction and a draper canvas arranged rearwardly of said knife arrangement and at said ends of the first and second draper assemblies so as to carry said cut crop rearwardly of the frame from said ends to said opening to pass therethrough, an elongate confining and feeding member having a longitudinal axis transverse to said working direction and extending from a first end spaced inwardly from an outer end of said first draper canvas and a second end spaced inwardly from an outer end of said second draper canvas, means mounting said confining and feeding member in spaced position above a rear end of said third draper assembly and means driving said confining and feeding member to rotate about said axis in a direction to feed material thereunder so as to cooperate with said third draper assembly to confine said cut crop and to direct said cut crop between an underside of said confining and feeding member and an upper surface of said rear end of said third draper canvas to pass through said opening.